


the same goes for me, whenever you want me at all (i'll be here, yes i will, whenever you call)

by lovelyflowersinherhair



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-18 16:42:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21930553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelyflowersinherhair/pseuds/lovelyflowersinherhair
Summary: “The lead...the girl who was playing the lead,” he told her. “Midge. Someone tried to kill her, Ma.”
Relationships: Fangs Fogarty/Midge Klump
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: A Very Merry Serpent Hissmas





	the same goes for me, whenever you want me at all (i'll be here, yes i will, whenever you call)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sweetfogarty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetfogarty/gifts).



> This is written for sweetfogarty for the Southside Secret Santa, and also fulfills the free space on my Riverdale Holiday Bingo card.

“I was wondering if you’d tell me how that play of yours went, Fangs,” his mother said, her voice a hoarse whisper. Fangs tried hard to hide the pained expression that came to his face when he thought back to what was supposed to have been opening night of the play, and what had turned into what could politely be described as a blood letting. Midge had been able to overcome her attacker, though only barely, and the fact that their lead had been rushed to the hospital meant that even Kevin -- who had insisted that the show  _ must _ go on -- had accepted that there wasn’t going to be an opening night to Carrie. Fangs had tagged along with the King and Betty Cooper’s mother to the hospital and stopped into his mother’s room out of necessity -- it wasn’t that he hadn’t wanted to see her, because he did love his mother, but because he thought that the pricks from the Northside of town thought he would be a perfect scapegoat for Midge’s injuries. He hadn’t expected his mother to be awake. Not this late at night. “It was tonight, wasn’t it?” 

“Don’t worry about it,” he said softly, and he sat on the edge of her bed, his hand stilled on the blanket. “You shouldn’t have waited up for me,” he added. “You need all the rest you can get.” 

“You’re my son,” she told him. “I’m the one that’s supposed to worry about you, not the other way around.” 

Fangs shrugged his shoulders. “It didn’t happen,” he said, after a moment. “There was another attack.” 

“What?” 

“The lead...the girl who was playing the lead,” he told her. “Midge. Someone tried to kill her, Ma.”

His mother drew in a sharp breath. “What? Is she all right?” 

“I don’t know,” he said, and he shook his head. “I haven’t been in to see her.”   
  


“Why haven’t you?” His mother’s tone was one of disapproval. “She’s a nice girl, Fangs. She brings us food from the church.” 

“I know, Ma,” he said, and he ran his hand through his hair. “It’s just. It’s different. When we’re not at home, when we’re in the real world.” He sighed. “We all have our parts to play. You know that. Can you imagine how it would look if I went to visit her?” 

“You’d look like you were her friend,” she insisted. “That you care about her.” 

“No, Ma, they think I’m a thug,” he corrected. “They don’t get that I only wear this jacket because I needed to help you pay for your treatments. "No matter what I do they'll find a way to pin what happened to Midge on me, even though she claimed the Black Hood did it.” 

“I thought that he was dead.”

“Yeah,” he said. “That’s my point. Whether he is or isn’t, this snake puts a target on my back and sitting in the ER with them will only make it worse. I don’t want to get killed for something I didn’t even do!” He forced in a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Ma. I didn’t mean to shout at you. I know that you don’t get it.” 

“Get what? What is there to get?” 

“Things are different now,” he said. “They’ve changed since you were in school. Since you were my age.” 

“They can’t have changed  _ that _ much--oh, hello, FP. What brings you here? Who’s your new friend?” 

Fangs glanced in the direction of the door, catching a glimpse of honey-colored hair in the corner of the door frame. 

“Mrs. Cooper,” Fangs supplied, when it became clear that his mother expected an answer, and no one was willing to provide it. “Jughead is dating her daughter.” 

“I thought you said that things were different?”

“I thought I would see if Fangs wanted a ride home,” Mr. Jones interjected. “I have to get Alice out of here.”

“Why? Because she’s changed her mind on defending us?” 

“It has nothing to do with any of that,” he said. “Midge identified her assailant before they sedated her. She’s in emergency surgery.”

“That poor girl,” his mother cooed. “Who does she think did it?” 

A choked sob could be heard from the hallway. “I can’t tell you,” he told her. “The Sheriff has asked people not to comment on the investigation.” 

Fangs managed to resist scoffing out loud. The idea that FP had suddenly decided to follow what the Sheriff had told him to do was practically laughable, and Fangs was willing to bet money that he didn’t have that the King was acting out of loyalty to the Northside’s other higher power, that being Alice Cooper, but the sounds of her sobs managed to temper him enough to keep his mouth shut. It was more important to continue to provide for his family than it was to point out his leader's weakness, no matter how much Fangs wanted to, and it was that realization that allowed him to affix a vague smile on his face.

“Maybe I should head home,” he told his mother, and he leaned over and brushed a kiss on her forehead. “I don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.” 

“I don’t want that either,” she said. “I love you.” 

“I love you, too,” he said. “I hope you can come home soon, Ma.” 

* * *

  
  
  


“I think it’s awfully convenient, don’t you?” Fangs couldn’t help but overhear as he skulked into the gym after school, dreading the fact that he had agreed to come cheer Sweet Pea on at his basketball game, knowing full well that he had asked him to go within earshot of Midge’s boyfriend. It's not like he could admit that  _ she’d _ been the reason that he’d been attending the games, not unless he’d decided to get punched, and that wasn't something he was wanting to sign up for. Attention pulled pack to their muttering, his gaze locked on an unfamiliar blonde, who was clad in the same get up as the other River Vixens cheerleading uniforms that would have been at home at the funeral home and not on the sidelines. He rolled his eyes. 

Midge wasn’t even dead. He was pretty sure that she had even been experiencing periods of alertness. Not that he’d been to see her. 

“My mother sees fit to cling to the delusions of a teenage girl,” the blonde continued, with a crack of gum, her arms crossed over her chest. “Why? Because agreeing with Midge that my father  _ tried to kill her _ means that she doesn’t have to do her duty as his wife? Means she can force me to come home? I have news for her, Cherry. She may have gotten me home, but that won't stop me from getting to the farm, even if that means bringing it to me.”

“Haven’t you disgraced my brother’s memory enough?” Cheryl demanded. Her tone could have cut ice. “You think that I want to hear about  _ anything _ that you think? After you stole my niece and nephew out from under me and took them god  _ knows _ where after you spent  _ 150 _ thousand dollars on hair ribbons? Wasn’t naming them those ridiculous names damaging enough?” 

“Frightening, isn’t she?” Jughead’s voice could be heard in his ear, and Fangs practically jumped a mile. “Sorry. I couldn’t help noticing you admiring our newest student.” 

“Who is she?” 

“Polly Cooper,” he said. “Betty’s older sister.” 

“That’s Betty’s sister?” Fangs couldn’t hide his disbelief. 

“And, by the way,” the girl, now known to Fangs as Polly-Cooper-Betty’s-Older-Sister, said to Cheryl, her tone one of absolute derision. “I thought I had made my point about what I thought about Elizabeth’s unfortunate proclivities when I expressed my displeasure about her dating someone with dirty blood on her locker. Now I find out that you’ve been allowing Southside Serpents to join  _ my _ River Vixens? Unacceptable. Don’t worry. I’ve already given Toni and Betty their leave.” 

“Your River Vixens?” Cheryl demanded. “You were the one who didn’t know which end of a condom was up when you slept your way through the varsity sports teams. You lost your captaincy when you were sent away.”

“Right. Because you’ve made good choices, Cheryl. Did you know that I saw one of those Southsiders  _ nosing _ around Midge’s room? She had the  _ nerve _ to say that they went to church together.” 

Fangs felt his fists clench. It was obvious that Polly was talking about his mother, or one of his younger siblings, and the fact that she was doubting that they went to church together was making him see red. 

“She’s talking about my mom!” He groused to Jughead. “What gives her the right to say  _ anything _ about my mother? Doesn’t she know her mother was a Serpent too?”

“Oh, she knows,” he said. “She just doesn’t care. She’s barely speaking to either Betty or Alice.” Jughead shrugged his shoulders. “She’ll get bored, and move on.”

“And I’m supposed to just  _ sit _ here and listen to her say those things?” 

“Fangs,” he said. “I don’t want to discourage you from defending her. You understand that I’m trying to stop you from getting arrested. The last thing that you need is Polly gaining ammunition that could be used against you.”

“What about Betty?” He said. “She said that she’d threatened her?”

Jughead sighed. “I know,” he said. “But with Betty’s father in jail for nearly killing several people, is this really the best time to try to avenge old wrongs?” 

Fangs shrugged his shoulders. “Sweets would say yes,” he told him. “I don’t want to get in trouble, or anything, so…” He trailed off, and he let out a sigh. “I don’t like what she said about my mother. But I’m not going to help my mother if she gets me sent to Juvie, or something.” 

What good would have joining the Serpents, or any of it, done, had he mouthed off to Polly Cooper and found himself sentenced to jail? It would have all been for shit and he knew that. For Fangs, the Serpents were a means to an end. He wasn’t going to jeopardize his family for the hell of it. 

“That’s what I thought,” Jones said. “Besides, things have their own way of working out. A little birdie may have told Betty’s mother that extracurriculars were only allowed with a parent’s permission.” Jughead’s face bore a smirk for a moment, before he masked it with practiced boredom. “I’m told that she hasn’t exactly been given permission.”

“Was that little birdie you?” 

Jones shook his head. “No,” he said. “It was Cheryl. Have you been by to see Midge?” 

“Why would I do that?”    
  


“Aren’t the two of you friends?” Jones asked. “Wouldn’t you want to see a friendly face?” 

“Her  _ actual _ friends would  _ kill _ me,” he pointed out. “Not to mention Moose.”

“Betty said that she was asking about you,” Jones told him, and Fangs felt a feeling of guilt growing in his stomach. He hadn’t known that Midge was awake. Or asking for him, for that matter. “I just thought…”   
  
“She was asking about me?” 

Jones nodded. Fangs let out a sigh.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll go.” 

“Now? Won’t Sweet Pea be upset that you left his game?” 

Fangs paused in the middle of standing, and he let out a groan, before he reclaimed the seat he had tried to abandon. Jughead wasn’t wrong: Sweet Pea would have killed him. Plus, it was probably a stupid idea to leave in the middle of the game, anyways. Everyone on the team knew who he was, and he didn’t want the Cooper girl catching wind of that and realizing that he could be used as a scapegoat to avenge her precious father. 

“I hate these stupid things,” he said, and he scowled. “Why are you even here?”   
  


Jughead held the camera he had in his hand aloft. “I need to take pictures. The Blue and Gold is doing an expose.”

“An expose? On a basketball game?”

“No, not on the game,” he said. “The game is our cover. We’re doing an expose on Betty’s sister.”

“Why? Because of that farm she was talking about?” 

“What do you know about the farm?” Jughead asked. 

He shrugged his shoulders. “Not much,” he said. “Just that she was telling Cheryl Blossom that she was going to bring the farm to her, even if her mother didn’t want her to.” 

* * *

  
  


Perhaps it was cowardly to do so (okay, Fangs could admit it  _ was _ cowardly to do so) to have carefully planned his visit to Midge while his mother was indisposed doing her treatments, but he was feeling somewhat guilty about having not stopped by to see her, no matter what his excuses were, and no matter how  _ valid _ he thought they were. Midge was his friend, regardless of whether or not they were something more, and he knew that he couldn’t expect to put off the visit forever. What was he supposed to do? He was capable of ignoring his mother (even though he  _ knew _ that ignoring his mother was rude), but Betty Cooper? 

Having been given something that wasn’t her serial killer (and near killer) father to focus on, Jughead’s girlfriend had been on him like a dog with a bone about his mysterious lack of desire to visit Midge, in spite of the fact that Fangs thought that his reasons for doing so were entirely clear. Despite the fact that he'd admitted Ms. Klump scared him and that he had no desire to go toe to toe with Moose, Betty had continued to barrage him for reasons to go to the hospital and he'd finally agreed, if only to get her to stop accosting him in the hallways.

And at the Wyrm.

And at the trailer park. 

He’d been unable to escape Jughead’s peppy, blonde, girlfriend. 

He’d also been unable to escape the growing feeling of guilt that he’d felt for ignoring Midge. If she really wanted to see him, who was he to ignore that?   
  


“Hey,” he said softly, as he stood at the door to her room. She was sat up in bed, the television set on low. “Is it okay that I came by? It’s not a bad time?” 

“Fangs?” Midge asked, her tone hoarse. “You came?”   
  


“Yeah,” he said, and he jammed his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He felt exposed in the corduroy material, but had decided that the protection that his leather jacket provided for him wasn’t worth dealing with people’s angry reactions of a Serpent in their midst. “I’m sorry I haven’t come by. I just…” He sighed. “I don’t have an excuse, really. I should have come by sooner.”   
  


“You can come in,” she said, and he obliged her. “I’m sorry, I know that I probably put you in a weird spot when I asked…”   
  


“You didn’t.” He closed the door behind him. “It’s just…”

“You don’t get along with my friends at school?” Midge suggested, her eyes twinkling. “Or my boyfriend?”   
  


“Your boyfriend and your friends scare the shit out of me,” he admitted. “But I should have come anyways. Especially now that you’re awake.” 

He perched on the edge of the chair closer to her bed. “How are you feeling?” 

“The truth? I’ve been better. I think he wanted to kill me.” 

“Yeah,” Fangs nodded in agreement. “Tried to kill a lot of people. Not just you.” 

He licked his lips, not wanting to think of how no one had bothered to suspect the damn King of the Northside until one of their own (who they actually valued) had dared to finger him in her attempted murder. Fangs had done well to not think of the realities of Midge’s condition, but it was clear that her encounter with Hal Cooper had done a number on her. 

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” He asked.

“Eventually,” she said. “They think I should be able to heal. I just...lost a lot of blood. And my voice…”

“Sounds fine to me,” he said. “Just a little husky. I don’t have a problem with it.” 

“You’re not the one that has a problem with it,” she whispered, and her gaze dropped to her lap. “Moose. He doesn’t want to be with someone who’s broken. I heard his parents talking about it with mine.”   
  


“Fuck him, then,” he muttered. “If that’s how he feels, I’ll tell him to get fucked.” 


End file.
